Oil rises as Hurricane Ida pounds U.S. crude patch, Louisiana

TOKYO, Aug 30 (Reuters) – Oil prices rose around 1% on Monday after a powerful hurricane ploughed through the Gulf of Mexico, forcing shutdowns and evacuations of hundreds of offshore oil platforms.

Brent crude was up by 84 cents or 1.2% at $73.54 a barrel by 0001 GMT, after gaining more than 11% last week in anticipation of disruptions to oil production.

U.S. oil gained 53 cents or 0.8% at $69.27 a barrel, having jumped a little over 10% over last week.

By Saturday, energy companies had halted 91% of crude production, or 1.65 million barrels-a-day’s worth, in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, as Ida headed toward drilling rigs and other infrastructure. read more

Oil and gas companies had evacuated 290 offshore facilities and moved 11 drill vessels out of harm’s way by midday Saturday, the offshore regulator said.

Ida smashed into the coast near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, a hub of the Gulf’s offshore energy industry, at 11:55 a.m. CDT (16:55 GMT) on Sunday as an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said.

Those who either could not or would not evacuate will have to brace for the toughest test yet of the billions of dollars spent on levee upgrades around nearby New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina more than a decade ago.

Hundreds of miles of new levees were built around the city after the devastation caused by Katrina, which hit 16 years ago to the day, killing more than 1,800 people.

“This is one of the strongest storms to make landfall here in modern times,” Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards told reporters at a news briefing. read more

Reporting by Aaron Sheldrick; Editing by Himani Sarkar

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.